GOPI 2018

I entered the Guardians of Pauatahanui Inlet photo competition again this year and managed to get my best result so far with winning photos in the Recreation and Artistic categories along with three highly commended photos in the Recreation, Artistic and Scenic categories (I’d previously won the Wildlife category back in 2013). Alayna and I attended the prizegiving (Keryn was in Auckland for the weekend taking a well deserved friends weekend) and it was nice to see Alayna taking pride in the winning photo that featured her and also clapping me as I went up to get my certificates.

There will be a few photos in the Whitby Newsbrief newspaper June edition. The winning photos are below. Over the past year I’d visited the inlet a few times, always looking for a new angle. A lot of times I was trying to get photos of the fernbirds now resident in the reserve but none of the photos I got of the fernbird were worth entering, the great photos will come! In previous years the competition judge, Geoff Marshall, had suggested a few things to try such as the following:

“If you see a good image it is often worth returning when the light is at its best and repeating the photo. This is usually early in the morning or in the late afternoon.”

I’ll often visit in the late afternoon for this reason, the light is better and there is a chance for some nice colour in the sky around sunset. The fernbird also seem to be more active around dusk but its difficult to capture the elusive little birds when they like to keep to the vegetation. Capturing the great shots will come, I just have to visit more often.